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Schooner
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Schooner_Grayling-1.jpg A schooner /ˈskuːnər/ is a type of sailing vessel with fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts, the foremast being shorter than the main and no taller than the mizzen if there is one. Originally gaff-rigged, modern schooners typically carry a Bermuda rig. Schooners first evolved in the late 1600s from a variety of small two-masted gaff-rigged vessels used in the coast and estuaries of the Netherlands. Most were working craft but some pleasure yachts with schooner rigs were built for wealthy merchants and Dutch nobility. Following the arrival of the Dutch monarch William the Orange on the British throne, the British Royal Navy built a Royal yacht with a schooner rig in 1695, HMS Royal Transport. This vessel, captured in a detailed Admiralty model, is the earliest fully documented schooner. Royal Transport was quickly noted for its speed and ease of handling, and mercantile vessels soon adopted the rig in Europe and in European colonies in North America. Schooners were immediately popular with colonial traders and fishermen in North America with the first documented reference to a schooner in America appearing in Boston port records in 1715. North American shipbuilders quickly developed a variety of schooner forms for trading, fishing and privateering. Schooner sail plan Although a schooner may have up to seven masts, the typical schooner has only two, with the foremast shorter than the mainmast. There may be a bowsprit to help balance the rig. The principal issue with a schooner sail plan is how to fill the space between the two masts most effectively. Traditional schooners were gaff rigged, and the trapezoid shape of the foresail occupied the inter-mast space to good effect, with a useful sail area and a low centre of effort. A Bermuda rigged schooner typically has four triangular sails: a mainsail, a main staysail abaft the foremast, plus a forestaysail and a jib (or genoa) forward of the foremast. An advantage of the staysail schooner is that it is easily handled and reefed by a small crew, as both staysails can be self-tacking. The main staysail will not overlap the mainsail, and so does little to prepare the wind for the mainsail, but is effective when close-hauled or when on a beam reach. Although the main staysail has less area than an equivalent gaff sail, a loose-footed "fisherman" may be flown above the main staysail to maximise drive in light airs . The fisherman's staysail, a four-sided fore-and-aft sail, is not strictly a staysail, but is clewed abaft the foremast. An alternatively light-air sail is a triangular mule. Some Bermuda schooners have (instead of a main staysail) a rectangular boomed sail clewed to the foremast; but although it can be self-tacking, it will be smaller in area than a main staysail and its use complicates flying a fisherman. Multi-masted schooner sailplan Multi-masted staysail schooners usually carried a mule above each staysail except the fore staysail. Gaff-rigged schooners generally carry a triangular fore-and-aft topsail above the gaff sail on the main topmast and sometimes also on the fore topmast (see illustration), called a gaff-topsail schooner. A gaff-rigged schooner that is not set up to carry one or more gaff topsails is sometimes termed a "bare-headed" or "bald-headed" schooner. A gaff schooner may carry a square topsail atop the foremast. A schooner with no bowsprit is known as a "knockabout" schooner. A "cat-rigged" schooner not only has no bowsprit but has no headsails, and has the foremast set as far forward as possible. Multi-masted schooners While schooners were initially defined as having two masts, three-masted schooners were first introduced around 1800. In the late 19th century, additional masts were added as schooners were built with as many as six masts (e.g. the wooden six-masted Wyoming) or seven masts to carry a larger volume of cargo. The only seven-masted (steel hulled) schooner, the''Thomas W. Lawson'', was built in 1902, with a length of 395 ft (120 m), the top of the tallest mast being 155 feet (47 m) above deck, and carrying 25 sails with 43,000 sq ft (4,000 m2) of total sail area. It was manned by a crew of only sixteen. A two or three masted schooner is quite maneuverable and can be sailed by a smaller crew than some other sailing vessels. The larger multi-masted schooners were largely a cost-cutting measure introduced towards the end of the days of sail. Construction Essex, Massachusetts was the most significant shipbuilding center for schooners. By the 1850s, over 50 vessels a year were being launched from 15 shipyards and Essex became recognized worldwide as North America’s center for fishing schooner construction. In total, Essex launched over 4,000 schooners, most headed for the Gloucester, Massachusetts fishing industry. Bath, Maine was another notable center, which during much of the nineteenth century had more than a dozen yards working at a time, and from 1781 to 1892 launched 1352 schooners, including the Wyoming. Schooners were used to carry cargo in many different environments, from ocean voyages to coastal runs and on large inland bodies of water. They were popular in North America. In their heyday, during the late 19th century more than 2,000 schooners carried on the Great Lakes. Three-masted "terns" were a favourite rig of Canada's Maritime Provinces. The scowschooner, which used a schooner rig on a flat-bottomed, blunt-ended scow hull, was popular in North America for coastal and river transport. Schooners were used in North American fishing, especially the Grand Banks fishery. Some Banks fishing schooners such as Bluenose also became famous racers. Two of the most famous racing yachts, America and Atlantic, were rigged as schooners. They were about 152 feet (46 m) in length. Famous Schooners * Adventuress, 1913 B.B. Crowninshield design. * America, eponym of the America's Cup * Bluenose, a Canadian racing and fishing vessel * Brutus, One of the vessels of the First Texas Navy * Charming Betsy, the eponym of a famous canon of statutory interpretation * Clotilde, the last ship to bring African slaves to the United States * Delawana, a Canadian fishing vessel and race winner * Demeter, from Dracula, by Bram Stoker, a Russian schooner transporting Count Dracula from the Balkans to London * Duncan, from In Search of the Castaways by Jules Verne, referred to as a "yacht" but described as a two-mast topsail schooner with combined sail/steam propulsion * Effie M. Morrissey, now Ernestina, the oldest surviving Grand Banks fishing schooner * Enterprize, the ship that brought the first European settlers to Melbourne, Australia * Esperanto (schooner), Gloucester, Massachusetts fishing schooner, winner of the 1920 International Fisherman's Cup * Fram, the legendary Norwegian polar ship used by both Nansen and Amundsen in their exploration of the poles. * HMS Halifax, built as Nova Scotia Packet in 1765, well documented early colonial schooner * USS Hannah, the first armed American naval vessel * Hispaniola from Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island * Independence, One of the vessels of the First Texas Navy * Invincible, One of the vessels of the First Texas Navy * La Amistad, ship on which a famous slave revolt occurred * Liberty, One of the vessels of the First Texas Navy * Liverpool Packet, a famous Nova Scotian privateer schooner * Nellie J. Banks, Canadian rum runner * HMS Pickle, carried the news of Nelson's victory and death at Trafalgar back to Britain * Pride of Baltimore, a Baltimore Clipper recreation sunk in a white squall * Rich Harvest, a 72-foot ferrocement staysail schooner, infamous as the "offshore off-licence * RYS Royalist, sailed to Borneo by James Brooke, enabling him to become 1st White Rajahs of Sarawak * San Antonio, One of the vessels of the Second Texas Navy, and sister ship to the La Amistad, San Jacinto, and San Bernard * San Bernard, One of the vessels of the Second Texas Navy, and sister ship to the La Amistad, San Antonio, and San Jacinto * San Jacinto, One of the vessels of the Second Texas Navy, and sister ship to the La Amistad, San Antonio, and San Bernard * Separación Dominicana, the first armed Dominican Navy vessel * Thomas W. Lawson, the only seven-masted schooner * We're Here, from Rudyard Kipling's book Captains Courageous * Wyoming, the largest wooden schooner * Zaca, a wood-hulled schooner appropriated by the US Navy for local patrol of the San Francisco area in World War II * Zavala, One of the vessels of the Second Texas Navy, and the first Steamship-of-War in the Western Hemisphere * Zodiac, 1924 William Hand, Jr. design. Category:Schooners Category:Ship Types